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Hi all...I thought I’d start a thread, I’m outside of NJ and looking for anecdotal/experiential info on NJ Superior Court Clerkships. What’s it like to clerk for different divisions (I.e., family, general equity, etc.) and what’s it like to clerk for the appellate division?

re-upping this

There are lots of great judges in the Superior Court, at both the trial and appellate levels. So, like most clerkships, who you clerk for will have a substantial impact on your experience. On the AD, in no particular order, Messano, Gilson, Sumners, and Sabatino (once he's back from t/a on SCONJ) are all highly respected judges and considered good to great bosses. I'm not as familiar with the trial court judges.

You should also consider how busy the trial courts are, especially right now in light of the high number of vacancies the governor and senate are unable to reach consensus on how to fill. So, your experience on the trial court will likely be quite different from a workload perspective. Similarly, on the App. Div., you won't really interact with litigants or parties, whereas on the trial courts you definitely will. Both clerkships will require research and writing, of course, but the App. Div. will almost uniformly require more and deeper work. Whether one is better for you just turns on your goals, how you value things, etc.

And then the usual advice is still applicable--e.g., if you're interested in commercial lit, a family court clerkship probably doesn't make as much sense, etc.